Bobby Fischer

Since winning the world chess championship 20 years ago this week, brilliant but temperamental Bobby Fischer has shown as much genius for weird behavior as for moving knights and rooks. He became a recluse, living under fake names in seedy Los Angeles hotels, and joined a fundamentalist Christian sect awaiting a nuclear Armageddon. Other reports render a portrait of an embittered, paranoid megalomaniac who would sooner thumb his nose at the world than show his face.How appropriate, then, for the 49-year-old American chess master, who did much to glamorize and popularize the game, to emerge in Montenegro for his first competitive chess in two decades, all the while breaking United Nations sanctions against Yugoslavia for its role in the Balkan war and drawing United States Treasury threats of up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for violating the sanctions.

Even some of the most devoted fans of musical theater may have trouble sorting out the history of "Chess," a work that brought together the talents of notable lyricist Tim Rice and the 'Bs' of the iconic pop group ABBA, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. The project picked up admirers and detractors as it moved from the initial concept album in 1984 to the London stage premiere two years later and the Broadway flop of '88. Assorted touring productions and concert versions around the world since then have added to the musical's mystique, while also confusing the little issue of plot - each new manifestation seems to come with another revision to the show's story line and song progression.

They don't have to search for Bobby Fischer any longer. The American chess master died Thursday in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he won the most famous match in the history of his game, beating Boris Spassky in the summer of 1972. He was 64. As with most competitions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the significance of the game was magnified beyond all reason by the real or imagined implications. These contests - chess, basketball, it didn't matter - were seen as morality plays, pitting ideologies of good and evil against each other.

Even some of the most devoted fans of musical theater may have trouble sorting out the history of "Chess," a work that brought together the talents of notable lyricist Tim Rice and the 'Bs' of the iconic pop group ABBA, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. The project picked up admirers and detractors as it moved from the initial concept album in 1984 to the London stage premiere two years later and the Broadway flop of '88. Assorted touring productions and concert versions around the world since then have added to the musical's mystique, while also confusing the little issue of plot — each new manifestation seems to come with another revision to the show's story line and song progression.

Bobby Fischer, the iconoclastic genius who was one of the greatest chess players the world has ever seen, has died, a close family friend, Gardar Sverrisson, confirmed yesterday. He was 64 and died Thursday in a hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland. Fischer died of kidney failure after a long illness, Sverrisson told the Associated Press. Mr. Sverrisson, who lived in the same apartment building in Reykjavik as Mr. Fischer, said: "He was a close family friend, and we all miss him very much." Mr. Fischer, the most powerful American player in history, had moved to Iceland in 2005.

IBM will eliminate 25,000 jobs, selected by computer. An Israeli reprisal against Arabs who did not murder the policeman would enhance those who did. If the U.S. requests Serbia to extradite Bobby Fischer for prosecution for violating economic sanctions against Serbia, and Serbia refuses, the U.S. could impose sanctions.

DON'T underestimate the power of chess in Iceland. Witness the plight of poor Bobby Fischer, the legendary chess champion and malcontent who has been on the run from American authorities since 1992 for violating U.S. sanctions by playing a chess match in Yugoslavia. The jailed 62-year-old chess master has been fighting deportation to the United States since his arrest in Japan last July for traveling on an expired passport. Enter Iceland, and its offer of citizenship to Mr. Fischer. The scene of Mr. Fischer's triumph over Russian Boris Spassky in 1972, Iceland may be the least-inhabited European country (three people per square mile)

A celebrated writer doesn't always have the makings of a writer-director. Steven Zaillian earned his reputation as a screenwriter with Schindler's List, but as a writer-director his work is often clumsy or simplistic; even at the script stage, it's as if he's writing down to his limited powers as a film director, or else, as a director, is not getting whatever life or complexity he has on the page. In Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), his writing-directing debut, Zaillian sheared away the fascinating, complicated mesh of real-life characters in Fred Waitzkin's autobiographical book about being the parent of a chess prodigy, and constructed a hollow fairytale about the need to lead a free, well-rounded life.

It was thrilling news for chess fans when they heard that Bobby Fischer would come out of retirement to play his old rival, Boris Spassky. For Scott Rudin, the producer of a Paramount film called "Searching for Bobby Fischer," the timing left something to be desired."

They don't have to search for Bobby Fischer any longer. The American chess master died Thursday in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he won the most famous match in the history of his game, beating Boris Spassky in the summer of 1972. He was 64. As with most competitions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the significance of the game was magnified beyond all reason by the real or imagined implications. These contests - chess, basketball, it didn't matter - were seen as morality plays, pitting ideologies of good and evil against each other.

Bobby Fischer, the iconoclastic genius who was one of the greatest chess players the world has ever seen, has died, a close family friend, Gardar Sverrisson, confirmed yesterday. He was 64 and died Thursday in a hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland. Fischer died of kidney failure after a long illness, Sverrisson told the Associated Press. Mr. Sverrisson, who lived in the same apartment building in Reykjavik as Mr. Fischer, said: "He was a close family friend, and we all miss him very much." Mr. Fischer, the most powerful American player in history, had moved to Iceland in 2005.

A celebrated writer doesn't always have the makings of a writer-director. Steven Zaillian earned his reputation as a screenwriter with Schindler's List, but as a writer-director his work is often clumsy or simplistic; even at the script stage, it's as if he's writing down to his limited powers as a film director, or else, as a director, is not getting whatever life or complexity he has on the page. In Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), his writing-directing debut, Zaillian sheared away the fascinating, complicated mesh of real-life characters in Fred Waitzkin's autobiographical book about being the parent of a chess prodigy, and constructed a hollow fairytale about the need to lead a free, well-rounded life.

DON'T underestimate the power of chess in Iceland. Witness the plight of poor Bobby Fischer, the legendary chess champion and malcontent who has been on the run from American authorities since 1992 for violating U.S. sanctions by playing a chess match in Yugoslavia. The jailed 62-year-old chess master has been fighting deportation to the United States since his arrest in Japan last July for traveling on an expired passport. Enter Iceland, and its offer of citizenship to Mr. Fischer. The scene of Mr. Fischer's triumph over Russian Boris Spassky in 1972, Iceland may be the least-inhabited European country (three people per square mile)

It is the sort of thing that would send Bobby Fischer into a tirade. Here, in the first round of the Maryland Scholastic Chess Championship, Patrick Allen's chessboard - the plastic roll-up kind - is curling up at the ends. The more pieces he advances, the more the mat curls, until a whole row of squares, then two, disappear. It doesn't faze Patrick Allen, but not much does, at least visibly. Shy, slim and sandy haired, Patrick is not Bobby Fischer - maybe not even "the next Bobby Fischer"- just a 13-year-old playing a game, albeit last weekend for some fairly high stakes: The winner of the "Sweet 16" tournament at the University of Maryland Baltimore County gets a four-year, $20,000 scholarship to the school.

THE AMERICAN MEDIA have not yet found a home for chess news. They heralded the 1972 and 1992 victories of Bobby Fischer over Boris Spassky in feature news articles. They print weekly chess columns in the leisure sections of newspapers. They also run an occasional human-interest story about chess, often accompanied by a cute photo of young children playing the royal game. But they have not yet accepted chess as a competitive sport. Nevertheless, chess is a sport and deserves regular coverage in the sports pages.

By Barry Koltnow and Barry Koltnow,Orange County Register | August 13, 1993

Actor Joe Mantegna is the proud father of two young girls. He is determined to raise them as normal kids. He scoffs at those parents who push their kids and try to live vicariously through them.Then he went to a ballet recital.His 6-year-old was up on stage doing what 6-year-old ballerinas do and someone next to him leaned over and whispered, "She dances real well."That's all it took for Mr. Mantegna's mind to run rampant. Visions of prima ballerinas danced in his head. Suddenly, his little princess was the next Anna Pavlova.

"Searching for Bobby Fischer" is a movie built on a paradox: It aspires to make a rousing, upbeat, arc-of-triumph story out of the most cerebral, meditative of contests -- chess. And that's what's so interesting about it.Even as he's trying to get you to cheer as you did in "Rocky," filmmaker Steven Zaillian is aware of the absurdity of his situation: He's filming small boys as they push ritualized plastic soldiers around a little square board. If you are one of the 54 or 55 people in America who understand what QR-4 to KN-3 means, you're in pig heaven.

A young boy meets a small, magical creature that becomes the greatest friend he ever had.Yes, that's the synopsis for "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," the highest-grossing movie ever made. But it's also a good thumbnail description of "The Indian in the Cupboard," the film adaptation of Lynne Reid Banks' award-winning children's book, opening today.Both pictures were scripted by Melissa Mathison. She would rather no comparisons were made between them at all."Basically, I was working against elements that were comparable to 'E.T.

By Robert A. Abele and Robert A. Abele,Contributing Writer | September 26, 1993

Remember Justin Henry? "Kramer vs. Kramer"? The kid?He's pretty much relegated to trivia status these days, but in 1980, his deserved Oscar nomination at the age of 8 was big news; he was the youngest person ever to be so honored. He lost, but his honest performance was as necessary to the film's success as were those of his co-stars, Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, both of whom won statuettes that year.But hey, he was a child. At that age, he was lucky to get nominated. And no child has been so recognized since by the Academy.